Page 53 of Edge of Desire

“Of course I would.”

“But you would see me peeing.”

“Not a problem. I’ll close my eyes.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Now can we go to sleep?”

“But it’s so early.”

“Well, that’s kinda what you do out here. It’s not like we can turn on the TV or anything.”

The sun had set, and I tossed her a headlamp. “What’s this?”

I put mine on and flipped the switch so she could see. “It’s a headlamp, but you might want to make sure the lamp is pointed up or down because it’ll blind the person across from you, namely me.”

She put it on and laughed. “These are pretty cool.”

In the distance, coyotes started howling and Avery got very still. “Preston,” she asked in a whisper, “what is that?”

I laughed and said, “Those are just coyotes.”

“Just coyotes. What do you mean just coyotes?”

“Don’t worry. They won’t come and rip you to shreds.”

“I never thought about all the creatures that would be out here. I thought it was going to be just us.”

“I see. And where exactly did you think these creatures hung out?”

“I didn’t bother to think about that. I only thought about bunny rabbits and squirrels and tiny things that can’t hurt me.”

“Come here.” She launched herself at me. “You really are frightened, aren’t you?”

“Of course, I’m frightened. What, did you think I was making it up?”

“Seriously, they won’t bother us, and if by chance they do, we have weapons. I’ve been out here dozens of times. People do this kind of thing every day. If animals were a problem, no one would ever go backpacking. It would be considered too dangerous. Okay?”

She clutched me like I was her lifeline. “But what about those stories you read where people get mauled by bears?”

“Look, you trust me, right?”

“Yes.”

“Honestly, don’t worry about them. Why don’t we go inside and get in our sleeping bags. Maybe you’ll feel better then.”

“Preston, I have to pee, and don’t want to go alone.”

I didn’t want to laugh, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“Would you like me to go with you?”

“You think I’m going out there by myself? Hell yes, I want you to go with me!”

I grabbed her hand and took her to a good place for her to do her thing. She made me turn my back and I just rolled my eyes at her. If she only knew some of the situations I had been in before, she would’ve lost all modesty. But a huge part of me didn’t want her to because it was cute the way she was so shy about certain things.

When she was finished, we headed back to the tent and crawled into our sleeping bags.

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